{"id":490484,"date":"2025-10-11T07:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490484\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T07:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:59:14","slug":"will-there-be-less-laissez-faire-on-my-next-visit-to-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490484\/","title":{"rendered":"Will there be less laissez-faire on my next visit to France?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q <\/strong>I have been visiting friends in France for several years. I recently learnt that I may now need them to complete an attestation d\u2019accueil for my next visit in 2026. The Foreign Office travel advice says that I may be asked to provide this invitation \u2013 it also looks to be very bureaucratic to obtain and needs to be done by my friends. I am reluctant to put them to this trouble. How likely do you think I am to be asked?<\/p>\n

Kate K<\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> Under the heading \u201cDocuments to be presented on arrival in France,\u201d the French government specifies British passport holders must have \u201cproof of accommodation covering the whole duration of the stay\u201d. This, the authorities say, should comprise \u201ca hotel reservation and\/or a certificate of staying with a relative, validated in the town hall\u201d.<\/p>\n

For some context, these have been requirements for \u201cthird-country nationals\u201d for many years. In practice, occasions when a British holidaymaker has been asked for documentary proof of accommodation have been vanishingly low. The demand is more likely to be made for a young traveller arriving from a less developed country. <\/p>\n

I visit France frequently, more often than not without a place to stay booked in order to stay flexible, and have never encountered difficulties. I speculate that almost everyone who stays with friends or family does so without an attestation d\u2019accueil (a \u201creception certificate\u201d) from the property owner. It looks a complete faff for your host: buy a tax stamp, fill in forms, make an appointment with the Mairie (town hall), send the original certificate to the prospective guest\u2026<\/p>\n

The bureaucratic climate may be changing, though. France has chosen to introduce questions about accommodation, available funds and even travel insurance on its EU entry-exit system screens at the Eurostar terminal in London. It may be that long-term residents who do not wish to contravene the rules will do the right thing. But I suspect that most travellers may seek to circumvent the rules by making a room reservation with free cancellation, with no intention of staying at the hotel concerned. I do not condone this course of action, though I understand why people would take it.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

It is essential to have the right travel insurance when visiting the US (Getty)<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> A friend of mine travelled to the US with what she thought was travel insurance cover through her credit card. Unfortunately, she fell ill. While being treated at a New York<\/a> hospital, she racked up a bill of $26,000 (\u00a319,500). Now it turns out medical cover<\/a> is not part of the policy. Is this a common mistake? Is there somewhere she can turn to get the bill covered or cancelled?<\/p>\n

Name supplied<\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> This is an awful situation, which I am sorry to say happens a fair amount. Financial firms are keen to add benefits to entice people to apply for, and use, their credit cards. Insurance while travelling is offered as a perk to holders of a number of cards. But cardholders need to be aware of the precise nature of that travel cover. Is it conventional travel insurance, which your friend clearly presumed it to be? Or travel accident insurance, which is much narrower cover?<\/p>\n

I happen to use a credit card \u2013 American Express Platinum \u2013 which costs me \u00a3650 annually but provides good-quality, comprehensive travel insurance. (It comes with additional benefits, such as airport lounge access, which greatly increases its value). Other cards, including American Express Gold, have a much lower annual fee and come with policies that cover accidents only while travelling. In addition, they are not designed to meet medical expenses.<\/p>\n

The exact cover with Amex Gold is \u201c\u00a3250,000 for loss of life, limb, sight, speech or hearing, while travelling on a public vehicle where the ticket was purchased on the card account\u201d. That is no substitute for proper travel insurance, especially in the US \u2013 where medical bills can be extremely high.<\/p>\n

In my view, the card issuers make the conditions and cover reasonably clear, so I see no grounds for a claim through the Financial Ombudsman Service. The British consulate in New York will provide non-financial support, and if necessary help organise payments from friends and family in the UK. But, in this position, all I can suggest is to ask for time to pay \u2013 and to be thankful that the bill isn\u2019t several times higher.<\/p>\n

\"Marrakech<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Marrakech offers a colourful alternative to those avoiding Schengen area travel (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong> Do you think the new entry-exit system will put people off holidays in the EU? If it does, where will they go? <\/p>\n

Humphrey C<\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> UK passport holders are subject to the entry-exit system (EES) because of the decision to leave the European Union and become \u201cthird-country nationals\u201d alongside Americans, Australians and citizens of many other countries. When the EES starts tomorrow (12 October), some British holidaymakers to the European Union \u2013 and wider Schengen area<\/a> \u2013 will be required to provide fingerprints and facial biometrics at the frontier. By April next year, all Schengen borders will check all third-country nationals on arrival and departure.<\/p>\n

Judging from some of the responses on social media to my posts on the EES, it seems likely that some people are resistant to the very idea of providing fingerprints for storage on a central EU database. While fingerprinting is a standard biometric<\/a> in most EU countries, as well as a prerequisite for entering the US and some other nations, many British travellers are unfamiliar with the practice. <\/p>\n

Initially, people who do not wish to have their biometrics captured could go to Cyprus<\/a> \u2013 until that country joins the Schengen area, probably some time next year. After that, seekers after sunshine may choose Albania, Montenegro or North Macedonia in Europe; Morocco, Tunisia or Egypt in North Africa; or Turkey. There is plenty of choice for rewarding overseas city breaks outside the Schengen area, including Dublin, Cork, Marrakech<\/a>, Sarajevo, Tirana and Istanbul. For winter sports without fingerprinting, Bosnia <\/a>and Serbia are likely to prove the best options; Turkey can also see good snow conditions.<\/p>\n

In general, though, experience suggests most British travellers will just grumble about the extra red tape but get on with it. You will recall that during the Covid pandemic, people were prepared to jump through endless bureaucratic hoops in order to explore Europe and beyond.<\/p>\n

Once the initial fingerprinting is done, the entry-exit system will rely only on facial biometrics \u2013 which feels less intrusive and tricky. So my expectation is that a year from now, we will be used to the EES. Then it will be time for the so-called \u201ceuro-visa\u201d, the Etias. Which itself may put some British travellers off\u2026<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

A carrier such as British Airways has to police the passport regulations for dozens of different nationalities going to dozens of different countries (Simon Calder)<\/p>\n

Q <\/strong>You\u2019ve just covered another story of an airline turning people away wrongly because staff got the rules on passport <\/a>validity wrong. I still don\u2019t understand why most airlines don\u2019t ask for the issue date as well as the expiry date of passports? It would be just a few lines of code and another data entry (of many) on the screen. It would then be possible for passengers to argue: \u201cBut it passed your checks.\u201d<\/p>\n

James W<\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/strong> As you say, every airline is determined to get its hands on your passport expiry date. When checking in online, providing this information is a prerequisite to receiving your boarding pass. Only when you reach the airport \u2013 and often the actual departure gate \u2013 for a flight to the European Union are airlines suddenly interested in the issue date of your passport. They are interested because you cannot legally enter an EU country (except Ireland) if your passport has reached its 10th birthday. This, a consequence of the decision to leave the EU, is a condition that causes frequent confusion years after Brexit<\/a>. Ground staff sometimes conflate it with the requirement that passports must have at least three months remaining on the day you intend to return home.<\/p>\n

So why would airlines not do the obvious thing, as you suggest, and register your passport issue date? Surely it is not beyond the wit of an airline\u2019s systems to alert people to the fact that they are legally unable to travel \u2013 and conversely to enable, as you say, the travelling public to be confident that they meet the requirements for their destination.<\/p>\n

Oddly, I have some sympathy with the travel industry. A carrier such as British Airways<\/a> \u2013 the airline whose ground staff wrongly turned away a couple heading to Mallorca on an anniversary trip \u2013 has to police the passport regulations for dozens of different nationalities going to dozens of different countries. Having said that, it looks like an ideal task for AI to manage on behalf of the airlines. And for carriers whose main business is transporting British travellers to the Mediterranean, a solution cannot come too soon.<\/p>\n

Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @SimonCalder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q I have been visiting friends in France for several years. I recently learnt that I may now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-490484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115354479628254465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}